Early July on the island

Every summer we hope to spend a day with our daughter and grandchildren at Canoe Cove. It isn’t always an easy day to plan because of the month of vacation out of the province the family has every year. Then dance camps fit around those plans. Besides, you have to plan a Canoe Cove visit around the tide schedule.

The Cove is an indentation in the coastline along the south shore of Prince Edward island on the Northumberland Strait. We arrived just after high tide and in time for a picnic lunch in the park. By the time we’d finished lunch and the youngest two had enjoyed the playground, patches of sand were appearing in the Cove from the falling tide. A small flock of Great Blue Herons had settled into the inner part of the Cove below the fields.

The girls and I watched Cabbage White Butterflies as they flitted from flower to flower along the perimeter of the park. I took numerous photos and eventually managed this one which shows an eye and its proboscis, a straw-like tube which a butterfly uses to extract nectar from blossoms.

We established ourselves on the sand and before long the falling tide exposed sand patches and tidal pools around the cove. 

Off shore, one could walk out a great distance and still be knee deep in the water.

While the others enjoyed the water, I followed the shoreline to where I had previously seen Bank Swallows. Before long, I came upon the bank area where part of the flock is nesting this year. 

I watched silently from a distance as bird after bird entered and exited the holes. I captured several with the camera and while they aren’t great shots, I was pleased to have any photo of these great birds.

Daisy, the golden grand-dog was with us on the beach and she loves time in the water. 

The water in Canoe Cove is as warm as bath water so everyone enjoys going for a dip there.

Meanwhile, we walked between the raindrops several days last week. Early morning was a good way to avoid the worst of the humidity. It will be brutal the early part of this week as well.

And as always, the succession of wildflowers continues as we make our way through nature’s beauty.

  

A day at the beach

It was a sunny but windy day and the tide was low, a perfect morning for the park and beach at Canoe Cove. We love to visit that beach with our daughter and grandchildren, so we headed out early to get maximum time there at low tide. The kids were so exited when they jumped out of the car, all laughing and talking at the same time. The Cove is a great place for all of that energy. 

First they checked out the playground at the park. Meanwhile the tide was headed to its lowest point and before long, we headed down for a walk in the sand and tidal pools. We watched a pair of Great Blue Herons fishing for an early lunch. 

Also, this is an area of coastline which is home to seals. They are in the distance in this photo but as so often happens, I didn’t notice them until I looked at the photos later.

This cove drains off most of its water during low tide so all that remains is water in low lying areas. The exposed sand shows the action of the water on the sea bed. 

Seaweed is strewn around the beach and we spent some time observing the Toothed Wrack variety 

which anchors itself to rocks via a holdfast. 

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if each person in the world had a holdfast to anchor us when the storms of life are particularly rough?

We explored the animal life remaining on the beach including barnacles and periwinkles attached to the rocks. 

The periwinkles in the tidal pools were crawling over the sand and explored our feet when we walked among them.

It was an interesting sensation. Around the exposed seabed, we found several dead crabs which were intact. 

We didn’t find any starfish that day however.

Several jellyfish were in tidal pools and stranded along the beach. 

The children always avoid them but are curious about them too.

Overhead, the Bank Swallows darted through the air in pursuit of insects and from the exposed shoreline, we watched as they entered and left their nests through the holes in the bank above the sandstone.

Along the shoreline, driftwood of various sizes stands against the elements, 

while trees drape their roots over the elevated shoreline. Those trees will eventually be but a piece of driftwood too.

Our grandson played with toys to make a channel in the sand. It flooded later with the rising tide, a lesson in tidal action he will remember.

The girls had mud baths, coating themselves in some muddy sand along one of the tidal pools. They had a natural spa day with the mud bath and the periwinkles tickling their feet.

Lunch in the park at a covered picnic table was a cool affair in the shade on that windy day.

As we left the park, the rising tide sent people off the beach as the Cove filled with the rising sea.

Canoe Cove at low tide is a great place for children to explore and swim. The added bonus of the day park facilities makes it an ideal location for families to spend the day.

A day with the swallows

At Canoe Cove on the island there is a beautiful park. We love to go there with our grandchildren, especially when low tide allows beach exploration. However, during the spring, no matter the tide, 

my husband and I have watched the Bank Swallows there and were eager to see the tiny avian speedsters again. The birds weren’t in the same location as before, but had moved their nests along the coastline. 

Erosion destroys many nests each year and it’s tough for the birds because they must dig new nests into the banks when they are tired after the long journey north. The Bank Swallows at Canoe Cove managed again this year.

We stayed inside the chained area away from the bank but patience paid off. The adults,

returning to the nests with food for the young, 

were fast but we were able to “capture” them. 

It was a thrill to watch them do their aerial acrobatics over the area.

While we had our picnic lunch, the sounds of the birds and their occasional passes overhead, provided entertainment unique to Canoe Cove. The view across the Cove shows a typical island scene for late May, fields of dandelion in full bloom. 

After lunch we drove back towards home, stopping at Cavendish Grove along the way. The Grove has changed a lot in the last month, 

the water in the pond having been replaced by reeds and grass. 

There were two geese still in residence and mallards as well but grackles and blackbirds were most prevalent. However, Tree Swallows glided and flitted overhead, a sight new to us at the Grove. It was impossible to take a photo of them in flight. I have one photo of a Tree Swallow on a wire which I took in North Rustico recently. 

Watching the swallows was an experience of natural magic provided by the island.

The Argyle Shore

The Argyle Shore on the south coast of Prince Edward Island is an area we visit several times every year. A national park and provincial parks in the area are well worth visits in the autumn. Besides, we always purchase honey at a farm along the shore at Canoe Cove and it was time to stock up.

At Canoe Cove, it is high tide and there isn’t much beach left to walk. However we walked around the park and had a great view of the cliffs.

It was obvious nearby cottagers aren’t getting down to sea level any time soon.

The sea has been busy making a hole in this cliff 

while the Bank Swallows have abandoned the holes they made in the soil above. They may have to excavate new homes next spring if erosion destroys this area. That’s a tough chore for birds tired from their spring migration.

We continued along the Argyle Shore to Skmaqn/Port la Joye/Fort Amherst, a National historic site held by the Mi’kmaq, French and English over the centuries. We always have our picnic near the wigwam in the shade of the maple trees.

Autumn colour sometimes begins with a single leaf.

An opening through the trees 

allows a close-up of the RV Maria S Merian, a German ocean research vessel in port in Charlottetown.

Two red chairs down by the water are empty and invite us to sit and relax for a few minutes. 

The spires of St. Dunstan’s Church are prominent in the skyline of Charlottetown across the harbour. 

The Front and Rear Range Lights which helped navigation for so long continue to stand vigil.

An abundance of mushrooms line a trail through the area. Some people pick wild mushrooms although my husband and I have never done so. However, some of the fungi remind us of hamburger buns. 

Hmmm… hamburgers…

You never know what will come from an outing on the island.

Rice Point

We visit the Argyle Shore on the south central coast of Prince Edward Island several times a year. Canoe Cove, along that shore, is where we buy wildflower honey from our favourite vendor at his roadside stand. 

However, we’d never visited Rice Point until one day last week. We were hunting seals.

I recently posted a photo of a seal, the first I’d ever seen around the island though my husband and I always watch for them. Helen, a blogger from Brisbane, Australia, see below, told me where she saw seals with her family when she visited here. Sure enough, there were seals at Rice Point at low tide, just like Helen said. Thank you, Helen! Here.

The beach reminds me of Canoe Cove just up the road where the tidal pools at low tide are of great interest to our grandchildren. 

Here, at Rice Point, offshore on a small, barely exposed sand bar, I saw shapes which could have been rocks. 

I recognized the familiar shape of cormorants along one part of the sand bar too.

I walked as far as I could and sure enough, the shapes were seals of various shades of grey and black and various sizes though all were big. Had I been prepared to wade in the water, I could have taken closer and had better photos. Another time.

The sand itself has wave induced shapes which I find intriguing too. How does ebb and flow create these? 

Also, the sand was full of holes made by shelled animals.

Our grandchildren would love to dig here. 

The beach, though not a huge one, is a beauty. 

It sits between two points of land in a shallow cove. 

The countryside around is farmland and residential. 

Gulls walked around the tidal pools, the ocean’s remnants easy picking for the scavengers.

We will visit Rice Point again and bring the grandchildren but it may not be until next summer.